2 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Selection and Management of House Plants. Sizes of pots to use; Soil: Drainage. 

 Overcoming Difficulties in Living Rooms. Managing the Insects. House Plants in and 

 out of Place. 



4:15 P. M. — Orchard Drainage. Is it Practicable? How to Overcome Difficulties. 



Evening. 



7 p. M. — Rotation in Fruit Plantations — in Garden Crops. 



8 P. M. — Horticulture in the Department of Agriculture at Washington. A Retro- 

 spective View. Needs. Promises. What we ought to have, and its power for good. 



Thursday Morning, February 11. 



9 A. M. — Reports of Committees. The nomenclature of Fruits. Miscellaneous Busi- 

 ness. Adjournment. 



President Lyon called the meeting to order promptly at the appointed hour. 

 After prayer and appropriate music, Mr. L. H. Salsbury was introduced and 

 delivered an eloquent and exceedingly appropriate speech. He traced the inti- 

 mate relations between the moral character of a home and its floral surround- 

 ings. No matter how humble the vines which cling to the sides of the cottage, 

 or spread themselves about the window, they gave character to the home, and 

 told of some one within whose soul was alive and warm. And these, he said, 

 were the homes where the character of the young was best formed. He held 

 that the man who causes the beauties of nature to adorn his home is a public- 

 benefactor, for such a home spoke with a potent elocpience of the author of his 

 being. In such a home children will be reared, in whose hands the country 

 will be safe. When he saw and realized the work the society was engaged in, 

 he felt like extending the heartiest personal welcome, and in the same connec- 

 tion he bid the society thrice welcome in behalf of the city. 



President Lyon responded suitably, recalling how he had come to the State 

 over fifty years ago, and how horticulture had since then grown. 



The first topic on the programme was then taken up 



MANAGEMENT OF LOCAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 

 BY S. B. MANN, OF ADRIAN. 



The management of local horticultural societies, to be successfully done, 

 must be about the same as other societies are managed. 



It is one of the easiest of tasks to organize anew a local society, and while 

 it is a new thing it will flourish like a green bay tree. But the secret is to 

 manage it so as to hold the interest in any society after the first burst of 

 enthusiasm has passed off. 



The officers of any local society, where all the labor has to be gratuitous, must 

 possess a good degree of tact, wisdom, and indomitable perseverance. 



When the society is of sufficient strength and importance to pay even a 

 small sum for the labor necessary, it will be easy to find some one to do it. In 

 a local horticultural society, to be successful for any length of time, there 

 must be a few men, at least, who are so in love with their calling, and able in 

 pocket, as to be willing, month after month, year after year, to lay aside 

 their work and spend a day, merely to instruct their less energetic neigh- 

 bors; for I claim that the men most faithful and energetic at the meetings of 

 a local society are the men who read most about the theme they most love, 

 and, as a consequence, are best able to make a success of their calling, inde- 

 pendently of what they learn at society meetings. 



